Sunday, October 5, 2014

Mary Gaultier

Mary Gauthier was brilliant last night at Bury Met.
I'm not keen on Bury, mind you. I went to school there and have fond
memories of the market and the record shops. We had to run the gauntlaet
of the soul-less precinct that's taken over the town centre, populated
by groups of slightly intimidating young men with identical hair cuts,
on our way to the Met. The Met itself seemed OK - a bit upmarket compared with our usual gig venue, we got greeted at the door by a hipster with an id card who asked us if we were for Mary or something else I didn't catch (it's those weird Lancs accents).
We decided to sit out the support in the bar and have a drink, we were
rewarded with a wave from Mary as she emerged from a door marked "no
entry" to check her merch' stall. We were slightly puzzled by the
audience who emerged into the bar at the interval and decided they were
definitely Radio 2 listeners. We'd expected a more "Hebden Bridge" like
crowd (if you know what I mean), but there were more sensible anoraks
than sensible shoes. The hall itself was a nice intimate size, with
all teired seating, and the sound was spot on. Mary came on looking
slightly nervous but promptly delivered two songs without talking t to
the audience, visibly exhaled with relief and relaxed into the rest of
the performance. It'd be nice to give a set list but I didn't go
prepared to do a review and Mary didn't actually identify most of the
songs. Mind you if I'd listened more attentively to the anorak clad
bloke sat behind us, who announced all the songs before they started and
occasionally sang along .... Anyway, she did Trouble and Love, I
Drink, Another Train, Christmas In Paradise ... and a really moving
song co-written with a woman Marine who'd served in Afghanistan ... she
dueted on some tracks with the support act, Ben Glover, including Oh
Soul which was stunning. The inevitable encore, also with Ben, included
Mercy - the worlds 20th best sad country song according to that
"fromerly great" publication, Rolling Stone. The lines "I love my
chcurch and country ... but they need a little mercy now" gaining added
poignancy sung by a bloke from Belfast. If you get the chance, you should go and see her.